


Melt

by Kalloway



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:35:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21932305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/pseuds/Kalloway
Summary: This was what she remembered from childhood.
Kudos: 8
Collections: Froday Flash Fiction Little & Monthly Specials 2018-2019, The Lemonade Cafe





	Melt

**Author's Note:**

> for fffc's advent

Ingrid could see the whole of the festival from above as she circled her pegasus around towards the royal stables. The previous year's festival had been somewhat more subdued, but this-- This was what she remembered from childhood. There were rows of stalls, despite the snow, and platforms for music, ice for skating, and even the giant maze of snow and ice that led to a grove of bright decorations and mage-fire lanterns. 

Well, she knew what she would be doing as soon as she'd finished her thankfully-short official business. The maze... 

Her pegasus knew what to do, descending before she could even give a downward nudge. Ingrid knew the feeling- she too could use a meal and to get out of the wind. The stall and soft straw were optional, hopefully. 

It not take long to handle her business and change into something a bit more fitting for the festivities. She'd not even caught a glimpse of Dimitri, and she'd not gone to looking for either Sylvain's or Felix's mounts. There would be time, later, for... everything. 

Ingrid's first stop was a stall with warm bowls of stew. It was a familiar and simple recipe, but it tasted incredible and she had to stop herself from buying a second bowl. There would be time for that later. 

There would be time for all the other stalls, as well, selling trinkets and goods of all sorts. What she wanted was the maze... there hadn't been one the year before, and it had been... She knew exactly when she'd last made her way through the maze's walls. They didn't seem quite as high anymore, she thought as it came into view, but that didn't matter... 

Back then, she'd had Glenn's hand in hers, dragging him along because she wanted to see the decorations beyond. He'd argued there was a shortcut, and of course there was! But it just felt better to work for it and it wasn't as if it was actually a difficult maze. It was just... It was just for them to spend together, which Ingrid supposed she should have just said instead of simply insisting on the maze. 

"I just wanted to see all this with you," she said softly to herself as she nodded to the 'maze-keeper' dressed brightly and warmly at the maze's beginning. 

The first dead end made her laugh. Someone had built a scarecrow that looked like it was trying to climb up and over the wall, but with no success. The second dead end-- it had looked much more simple from the sky! --made her pause. There, strung across on a thin wire was a fat sprig of mistletoe. 

She and Glenn had ended up under it, back then, and somewhere in that initially-awkward kiss, he'd grown to understand why she found the maze so attractive. He hadn't let go of her hand after that, and he'd kissed her again, unprompted, and... 

Ingrid smiled at the memory and closed her eyes. It was not that she didn't still miss him, but she no longer missed him in the burning, angry and broken-hearted way that she once had. 

A tiny breeze blew down from above, sending the tiniest tickle of snow down against her face, cold and wet and... 

Laughing, Ingrid opened her eyes and knew it was time to move on. So much more awaited her, after all. 

And she knew she wasn't alone.


End file.
